Why Didn’t Someone Wake Me?

Wake up calls are sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious. A continent on fire, people dying, homes lost, wildlife decimated. To me, this comes into the obvious category. We have seen that a leadership vacuum cannot be filled by a part time pastor and that in these times sterner stuff is needed for our nation to see ...

Why Is It Too Tough?

When political parties seek the approval of the people to govern in Australia, they do so with the implicit if not explicitly stated promise that they will provide certain basic fundamental services that are expected in modern democracies. These include, amongst others, a decent health system, transport system, education system and an affordable legal system that ...

Once Upon A Time, Long Ago

    When the founder of the Liberal Party, Sir Robert Menzies said – “As the etymology of our name ‘Liberal’ indicates, we have stood for freedom … believing in the individual….We have realised that men and women are not just ciphers in a calculation, but are individual human beings … (and) to protect the individual from oppression….” he ...

The Hate Speech of the Privileged

The least surprising aspect of Senator Anning’s speech was that virtually every ‘fact’ he asserted in his diatribe was simply wrong. He did us all a favour not only by exposing the depths of his prejudices but of revealing his cavernous ignorance. The most disturbing aspect of his speech was the demonstration of how an individual ...

Herding Cats

      It’s a task akin to herding cats. Getting all State and Territory governments to agree on an Australian energy policy while aligning climate change sceptics with those demanding higher emission reduction targets, seems to be beyond the capacity of our current crop of decision makers. While the “no sniping, no undermining” Tony Abbott and his disciples ...

Play School Politics

  The phrase ad hominem doesn’t get a lot of airplay round the pubs and cafes of Australia these days. It literally means ‘to the man’ and perfectly describes the state of Australian politics today. It is used best to describe a fallacious argumentative strategy whereby genuine discussion of a particular topic is avoided by instead attacking ...

Secret Politician’s Business

  The resort to so-called ‘Cabinet confidentiality’ by Mr Malinauskas and the Labor Opposition concerning the report presented by former Police Commissioner Mal Hyde into carers working with vulnerable children, is as breathtaking in its arrogance as it is cruel in its effect. While cabinet members have traditionally claimed the right to keep differing opinions expressed amongst ...

A Caretaker Government or a Government That Doesn’t Care

The South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet has published a document entitled: “CARETAKER CONVENTIONS AND PRE-ELECTION PRACTICES” The document explicitly recognises that after the dissolution of Parliament, the business of government MUST CONTINUE and that “ORDINARY MATTERS OF ADMINISTRATION” must be addressed. Government departments are expected to operate normally. The only restrictions on government during this period ...

For more content from Stephen Pallaras
Directly to your inbox

If you're interested in following the journey just subscribe to our mailing list for updates to your inbox.